It’s just one thin thread in a dense weave of mismanagement, neglect, politics, and scandal that will continue to come out regarding the response at every level of governmen to Katrina. The ice.

When the definitive story of the confrontation between Hurricane Katrina and the United States government is finally told, one long and tragicomic chapter will have to be reserved for the odyssey of the ice.

Ninety-one thousand tons of ice cubes, that is, intended to cool food, medicine and sweltering victims of the storm. It would cost taxpayers more than $100 million, and most of it would never be delivered.

The ice. The buses. The rumors. The exaggerations. The infighting. The desertions. The levees. That resume. The Convention Center. Most scandals have one essential symbol. This one has so many.